TV makers fined for fixing prices back in the day

Tsk tsk Philips, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba and Technicolour

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Behind jolly exteriors lurks a murky past

A consortium of television makers have been fined €1.47 billion (£1.2 billion, $1.9 billion) for a decade's worth of fixing television component prices.

Update: And so the appeals begin... LG is first out of the gates, maintaining that it should not be held liable because its CRT business was transferred to LG Philips Displays, which then went bust in 2006.

Even if it does end up with a fine, LG says it should be lower than the one that's been levvied against it. Expect more to come.

Original story continues...

The group, which includes Philips, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba and Technicolor were found guilty of fixing the prices of cathode-ray tubes (CRT), the ones found in old CRT monitors and bulky old televisions.

Philips was hit hardest, with LG, Panasonic and Samsung also receiving hefty fines; Toshiba and Technicolor's fines were smaller but still in the multi-millions.

Millions and millions

The period in question was that heady time 1996 – 2006, during which the companies colluded to keep television and computer monitors prices high by keeping CRTs expensive.

"These cartels for cathode ray tubes are 'textbook cartels': they feature all the worst kinds of anti-competitive behavior that are strictly forbidden to companies doing business in Europe," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.